I was watching “Elf” and noticed something I have never noticed before.  (Thanks Jeff for making me deconstruct everything.)  So here’s a shot at a teeny piece of analysis:

The main father character (Walter, played by James Caan) is supposed to elicit a feeling of growth.

There are 2 scenes in Elf that work in parallel: the board room scenes.  In the first scene, Walter is trying to convince 4′5″ Miles Finch, who is alone, to work for him.  While this is happening, his elf son Buddy (Will Ferrell) comes in and aggravates Finch.  The scene goes out of control and Walter banishes Buddy from his life.

In the second board room scene, Walter is talking to his boss Fulton (played by a heafty 5′7″ Michael Lerner) and Fulton’s entourage and trying to pitch a story to him.  During this scene, Walter’s second son Michael comes in saying Buddy has run away.  This time, Walter does the right thing and goes to find Buddy, even though he is getting fired.

First, we see a contrast in the size of Walter’s adversary, first a little person (Finch), then a large man (Fulton).  Finch is someone Walter is trying to hire where as Fulton is Walter’s boss.  In this, Walter starts off not being able to stand up for his new son against someone small, but then grows to stand up agaisnt someone large in stature and in position.  Second, we see that Walter goes from not being able to stand up for one of his sons to being able to stand up for both of his sons.

In these two things we get a sense of growth and an overcoming of bigger challenges.